


The Runaway Bride

by l-ouresdeLuna (facemyJam)



Series: Rose Stays [1]
Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/M, Gen, Post-Episode AU: s02e13 Doomsday, my take on What If, probably OOC everyone, sorry but the Rose/Doctor stuff doesn't happen for a while
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-28
Updated: 2017-07-01
Packaged: 2018-11-20 01:37:58
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 16,992
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11325975
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/facemyJam/pseuds/l-ouresdeLuna
Summary: When the Doctor falls instead of Rose, what becomes of the Universe? What becomes of her? What becomes of the adventures he would have taken?





	1. Half of What Was Said

**Author's Note:**

> Sooooooo...... I was reading this one fic about this same thing, but they just took the dialogue the Doctor did and made Rose say it and I didn't agree with that, despite Rose's Bad Wolf connection. So, this is my take on What If the Doctor were the one with the faulty lever and Rose was the one left behind.

Rose went to the wall and laid a hand on it. 

 

He was gone and she had never felt more stupid in her entire life. Resting her forehead on the cool wall she felt the tears fall down her face, but that was the only thing she felt. It was like her whole insides were static, like a limb that’s been too long without circulation.

 

_ This wasn’t supposed to happen _ , that’s all she could as she pressed her forehead into the wall. Harder and harder until it was like she was a part of the wall, and oh, how she wished that were true. If it were true, she wouldn’t have to live in this world.

 

Rose sighed as she shifted from resting her forehead against it to pressing her cheek along it. Maybe if she closed her eyes and listened, maybe she would hear or feel the Doctor somehow. Maybe it would be like the last ten minutes of her life had never happened.

 

Eventually, she had to move and she couldn’t even think as she walked away from the wall; that accursed wall. It stole her whole life from her and she was never going to get it back. Everything she was- it was all on the other side of that wall. It was in another Universe. Her mum, her would-be dad, Mickey, and the Doctor. Just even thinking about him losing his grip made her more than numb, it made her cold. 

 

Rose Tyler was alone for the first time in her life.

 

\--

 

She didn’t know how much time had passed. She just walked until the next thing she knew she was inside the TARDIS. As soon as she registered that familiar green glow she broke down and cried, only this time she felt it. She felt everything that she had tried to repress.

 

“I’m so sorry!” She cried out as she sat just inside the doorway, curled up on the ramp. She didn’t feel she deserved to go any further than this. “He fell because of me! It’s all my fault you’re alone!” She didn’t know if she said that last part to the ship or to herself, but it was still true. It was her fault she would never see her family again.

 

She had left her mum without a goodbye, too focused on getting back to the Doctor, too convinced that he needed her. She had left her family for the chance of possibility and now even that was gone. Everything was gone.

 

Something flickered in the corner of her eye and she looked up and over to see her first Doctor. Her blood went cold as she realised it was Emergency Programme One. Only, she didn’t have a home to go back to. Not anymore. 

 

_ Have a fantastic life. Do that for me, Rose. _

 

It didn’t say anything, though, just gestured for her to follow. She got up on shaky legs and rubbed at her eyes as she followed the Doctor down the halls and to her room. 

 

Rose realised that the TARDIS was doing this, that it was the TARDIS trying to take care of her, and she cries that much harder.

 

\--

 

For the first however many days after that, Rose only left her bed to eat and cry in the bathtub. She knew that she had to get up and do something, but she couldn’t bring herself to. What would she do now? What would keep her going now that she had no one around to help her with the process? Is this what the Doctor felt like after witnessing the destruction of his planet? After losing companion after companion? She now got why he left them before they left him.

 

\--

 

By the time she learned that the weird singing and chimes she heard in the back of her mind was the TARDIS, it had felt like years had passed Rose by. Those chimes were a reason to get going in the morning. They were the reason she showered and got dressed and ate and tried to do something other than go back to her bed. Sure, most of the time Rose had difficulty understanding what the TARDIS was saying to her, but she would get better.

 

They only had time and each other, after all.

 

\--

 

One day, she felt the desire to go to home, the one on Earth that her mum owned. The process took longer than it should have, but Rose had never flown? Driven? The TARDIS before, and she was following the ship’s instructions on what buttons and levers to press and flick. 

 

She got there in the end, though, and when she stepped out in the small living room she had lived in her whole life, she hadn’t known she had more tears to shed.

 

It took her an hour to pack her room up, mostly because she hadn’t had anything but clothes and makeup. The rest of her things were already on the TARDIS, because she had lived with the Doctor ever since they blew up 10 Downing Street.

 

Her mum’s room, though, that took days to pack up.

 

Rose had break downs over nearly everything she came across. Her mum’s tracksuits, an old photo album on her night stand, the bezoolium next to the photo album. Everything reminded her of what she was missing and she felt a stab of pain with every box she taped up.

 

\--

 

The first night packing up her house she spent curled up in her mum’s bed surrounded by her scent. It was like her mum had died, and it was true in a sense. Her mum was dead in this Universe, or so said the newspapers. Rose was dead, too. And Mickey. The Battle of Canary Wharf, they named it, and Rose had never been more angry in her entire life. Torchwood had gotten away with mass murder, they hadn’t even been  _ blamed _ . They had ruined her life and they hadn’t even paid for it!

 

\--

 

She had found a lot of her dad’s old stuff in the back of her mum’s closet. His old prototypes, his notebooks filled with ideas, a box of newspaper clippings with his name in them, a broken piece of a vase. Things her mum hadn’t told her mixed with things she had. The whole of his life stuffed in three boxes in the back of her mum’s closet. Rose didn’t leave from where she sat in front of her mum’s closet for several hours.

 

\--

 

She hadn’t thought it possible, but she felt better after cleaning out her flat. She wasn’t ready to walk out that door yet, but she felt like she could soon. Sometimes, at night, it felt like the darkness was slowly crushing her, like the silence was stealing her breath, like her heart wasn’t beating quite right. Sometimes, in the morning, it felt like they were still with her, like she would hear the Doctor walking around plotting where to take her next, like she could ring her mum up and she would answer. Sometimes, all the time really, it felt like someone took her insides and scooped them out leaving her empty without a way to survive.

 

\--

 

The day after she left the empty flat, she felt the TARDIS nudge her to shower. Since she hadn’t anything else to do, she complied. She showered and used the alien shampoo the Doctor once told her made her smell like banana’s and scrubbed and scrubbed and scrubbed her skin raw. It still didn’t feel like her guilt would ever go away, though.

 

No sooner had she zippered up her hoodie did a ghostly image of her mum appear before her.

 

“Mum?” she whispers, reaching out to the image wondering if this was a cruel trick played by the TARDIS.

 

_ “Rose!” _ she heard the image shout and Rose knew it was her mum. She didn’t know how, or why, but it was good to see her again.

 

“Mum!” Rose repeated louder. “What?”

 

_ “The Doctor rigged up some machine to through the walls,” _ her mum explained before looking off to the side.  _ “She looks like a ghost,” _ she says to someone outside Rose’s vision.

 

_ “One second,” _ Rose hears the Doctor say and she realises just how oppressive the silence had been. Oh, she had  _ missed _ their voices.

 

“Where are you, mum?” Rose asks when she comes in clearer. So clear, in fact, that it’s like her mum’s in the same room with her. It hurt to know that she actually wasn’t. Behind her mum looked like a beach and Rose could just make out Pete and Mickey leaning against a jeep. She wonders why they hadn’t come closer, but was grateful to see her mum again.

 

_ “Bloody Norway! Darlig-Ulv Stranden. Himself said this was the only place that was acceptable or whatever,” _ Jackie shouts and Rose can feel the blood drain from her face.

 

“Dalek?” she whispers, hating how the word tasted in her mouth.

 

_ “No, Dal _ **_ig_ ** _. It’s Bad Wolf Bay, Rose,” _ the Doctor says as he comes into view. It was like a punch in the gut to see him again and not be able to touch.

 

“Can I?” she asks anyways, stretching out her hand, and sees him shake his head.

 

_ “Just an image. No touch,” _ he tells her looking sad at his words. She can see her mum crying and it aches not to be able to give her a hug.

 

“How much time do we have?” she hated to ask, but she wanted to memorize this moment. The last time she would be able to see her family again.

 

_ “About two minutes,” _ the Doctor says looking down at his feet.

 

_ “Rose, I got to tell ya,” _ her mum says putting a hand over her stomach.  _ “I’m three months gone!” _ It was supposed to sound happy and cheerful, but it came out with a cry as Jackie told her.

 

“It’s been three months?” There was no telling how much time had actually passed while she was alone.

 

_ “Yeah,” _ her mum said sarcastically.  _ “‘Cos I shagged my dead husbands double the first chance I got!” _ Despite being sad, Rose could see a twinkle in her mum’s eye.

 

Rose laughs for the first time since she lost everything important to her. “Good for you mum! What’cha gonna name it? Do you know if it’s a boy or girl?” Jackie shakes her head rubbing her stomach again.

 

_ “Nah, but it doesn’t matter. Gonna name it Tony no matter what.” _ Rose has to wipe away the sudden flood of tears.

 

“Perfect name for a sibling,” she says thinking back to when she was younger and bugged her mum for a little brother or sister so she could call it Tony. “Oh,  _ god _ ! I love you, mum. I know I was a tough child to raise, but you were honestly the best mum a girl could hope for. And tell Mick’s that I love him, too. Tell ‘im that he was my first in so many ways and I’ll always love him. He’s not the tin dog.”

 

_ “I love you, too, Rosie,” _ her mum says between her sobs.  _ “Never forget that. And I will always be proud of you. Just you wait, we’ll be together again. Just as himself with his supposedly superior alien brain finds a way to get back.” _ Jackie’s voice cracks on the last word and the Doctor wraps an arm around her. Jackie hugs him back before turning around and walking back towards Pete and Mickey.

 

“I don’t know what to say,” she tells him feeling a lump form in her throat. “I- I love you.” He smiles sadly, his eyes filled with unshed tears. Rose is suddenly struck by the fact that he, too, has lost his whole world. _ Again. _

 

_ “Quite right, too,” _ he says hands in pockets, leaning back on his heels.  _ “And I suppose, if this is my one chance to say it… Rose Tyler, I-” _ And he fades out of her room.

 

Rose collapses onto the floor and screams as she allows the tears she held back to come pouring out.

 

She doesn’t know how long it’s been, but she knows it’s not been enough time, when the TARDIS chimes at her. Rose recognizes it as an urgent tone, so she wipes at her face, blows her nose, takes a deep, steadying breath, and gets up. 

 

She’s reminded of when the TARDIS lead her to her room so long ago when the world had ended for her; her legs are pins and needles as she walks down the hallway to the console room. 

 

The console room that’s not empty. The console room that holds a seething redhead in a wedding dress.

 

“Wha’?” She couldn’t believe what she was seeing.

 

“Who are you?” the redhead demanded.

 

“What?” Rose repeated because she was still dizzy with grief and couldn’t quite compute what was before her.

 

“Where am I?”

 

“Uh…”

 

“What the Hell is this place!?”

 

“Y-”

 

“Tell me where I am! I demand that yo- Are you crying?”

 

Rose wipes at her face again as fresh tears fall down her cheeks. “I- I jus’ had to say goodbye,” she told the woman, her voice soft. “How’d you get here?” Was there something she missed?

 

“I don’t even know where here  _ is _ !” the redhead had gotten over her shock at Rose crying.

 

“Right. Sorry, I’m- I’m a little out of it. You’re in the TARDIS.”

 

“The  _ wha’ _ ?” the woman was none too pleased with the answer.

 

“TARDIS,” Rose repeats. “It’s the D- It’s  _ my _ ship.” Her slip-up was very painful so close to losing them all over again, but it helped jarr her from her grief. If only by a little.

 

“That’s not even a proper word!”

 

“It stands for Time And Relative Dimensions In Space,” Rose tells her absentmindedly, walking around the console room and towards the woman. The woman backs away from her.

 

“Did you kidnap me?” she asks raising her hands up to defend herself if need be. Rose splutters.

 

“What? No!”

 

“Was this Nerys?” the woman continues as if Rose hadn’t even spoken. “Oh, this is classic Nerys.”  _ What? _

 

“Who the Hell is Nerys?”

 

“Your best friend!” the woman tells her pointing an accusing finger at Rose before pacing back and forth. “I swear, once I get back, me and my husband- once he is my husband- are going to sue the living  _ backside  _ off ya!” She stops her marching as she spots the TARDIS doors and heads to them, which isn’t a good thing because Rose is pretty sure they are floating in the Vortex.

 

“ _ Wait _ !” Too late, she had already gone and opened the doors. Only, instead of whatever she imagined the Vortex to look like, they were staring out into space. “We’re in space,” she says incredulously. She glances over to see the woman look out with horror in her eyes. “Er, outer space,” she corrects. “The TARDIS is a spaceship.”

 

“How am I breathing?” she whispers and Rose purses her lips.

 

“We’re being protected by the TARDIS.” She looks out into space as she explains. The view was lovely, but it didn’t fill her with same wonder as it once did. 

 

_ Better with two _ .

 

“Who are you?” the woman asks her. Now that was a loaded question. Who was she? Now that she was all alone, who would she become?

 

“I’m… Rose. Rose T- Prentice. You?” She almost slipped and said her real last name. If this woman was from her future, then she would know that Rose Tyler was dead. For now, she would use her mum’s maiden name.

 

“Donna.” Rose looks at her closely and she wonders if she’s even from Earth. She might be from wherever, from  _ when _ ever.

 

“Are you human?”

 

“Yeah. Is that optional?” Donna didn’t sound scared at the thought, which was either a good sign or a sign of her being in shock.

 

“Well, in my world, yeah.” Rose shrugged as she looked at the other woman.

 

“You’re an alien,” Donna says as she backs up a little.

 

“No, I’m-”

 

“It’s freezing with these doors open,” Donna interrupts walking away from the doors, rubbing her arms. She looked pale and Rose couldn’t blame her. It’s a hard thing to go from Earth to a spaceship in the midst of your own wedding.

 

“I don’t understand,” Rose whispers as she closes the doors. Donna slams her hand down on the console and Rose looks over to her.

 

“What was that for?” she asks. Even if the Doctor hit the console all the time, it never really sat right with her. And now that the TARDIS was all she had left, she was doubly protective.

 

“ **GET ME TO THE CHURCH** !” Donna yells and Rose jumps up at the force of it.

 

“Okay,” Rose concedes walking up to the console, her hands twitching as she looks around at the buttons. “What year are you from? Where is the wedding being held?”

 

“St. Mary’s, Have Road, Chiswick, London, England, Earth, the Solar System!” Donna lists off growing more and more desperate as she talks.

 

“Yes, but the _ year _ , Donna. I haven’t been back in a while an- Don’t touch that!” Rose shouts as she rushes over and snatched the Doctor’s jacket from Donna’s hands. She clutches it to her chest and she can feel more tears escape from her eyes.

 

“What’s that then?” Donna asks. Rose tightens her hold on his jacket as she brings it up to her nose to sniff.

 

“It’s-” she swallows thickly. “It’s my friend’s coat.”

 

“Where are they then? Popped out for a spacewalk?” Donna asks oblivious to Rose’s pain.

 

“No. They’re- They’re gone,” her voice cracks and Rose closes her eyes as she begins to cry harder.

 

“Gone where?” Donna asks, this time her voice soft as she sees Rose cry. She walks around the console and wraps Rose up in a side hug.

 

“I- I lost them. I lost them all,” Rose confesses as she turns to place her head on Donna’s shoulder, careful not to get her wedding dress wet.

 

“How’d you mean ‘lost’?” Rose doesn’t really want to talk about it so she just shakes her head.

 

“I- Jus’ lost. I- I should get you to your wedding,” Rose stutters easing out of Donna’s embrace, which was harder to do than she thought it would be. She hadn’t had a hug in a really long time. She walks over to a button that was lit up and wipes away her tears before pressing it and going over to the next button. “Chiswick. Let’s get you home.”

 

\--

 

“I said St. Mary’s!” Donna shouts as she opens the TARDIS doors. “What kind of Martian are you? Where is this?” Rose frowns as she walks back to the console.

 

“Something’s wrong with her. What’s wrong, Old Girl?” She remembers how Donna just appeared out of thin air. Maybe it had something to do with her. “Donna? Do you have anything… alien on you? Or have you  _ met _ an alien? This bloke you’re marrying, he’s not a bit round with a zip on his forehead? Donna?” She sees the woman go past the open door and realises what’s happening. “Right.” Rose heads out to go after her. “Donna!”

 

“Leave me alone, I just want to get married!” Donna tells her. Rose catches up easily and gets in Donna’s way to slow her down.

 

“Come back to the TARDIS. I’ll get it right this time.” Rose tries to lead her back to the TARDIS, but Donna is not cooperating.

 

“No way! That box is too weird!” Donna says as she slips past Rose. She looks down at her watch as she walks. “Ten past three, I’m gonna miss it.” Rose catches up easily and sees the look on the woman’s face.

 

“Here,” Rose says digging in her jean pocket. “Use my phone to ring ‘em. They must be worried.”

 

“That’s an actual mobile,” Donna says dumbly as she takes the phone.

 

“Yeah,” Rose replies confusedly.

 

“It’s not some Martian device?” she asks looking it over before walking off without waiting for the answer.

 

“I’m not- I’m not- from Mars,” Rose sighs as she follows after Donna. She catches up to hear Donna tell the person on the other end that  _ ‘it’s definitely Earth!’ _ before she hangs up.

 

When they finally manage to call over a taxi, they both pile in. Rose wanted to see this through.

 

“St. Mary’s, Chiswick. Hurry! It’s my wedding day!” Donna yells at the cabbie.

 

“That’ll cost you double, sweetheart,” the cabbie tells them.

 

“Oh, my god. Have you got any money?” Donna asks and Rose nods.

 

“Yeah, a’course.” She pulls out a credit stick from her pocket and blinks. “Oh, no.” She puts it back in her pocket and pats the rest down, coming up with only an American penny and a thirty used on some planet she forgot the name of. She was worse than the Doctor. “You?” Donna gives her an affronted look.

 

“Does it  _ look _ like I’ve got pockets?” She asks gesturing to her dress. Right.

 

“Sorry,” Rose apologises as she gets back out of the cab. She misses the first part of what Donna tells the driver, but as she exits she can hear the woman is cussing him out.

 

“And that goes  _ double  _ for your  _ mother _ !” She yells after the cab speeding away. “Talk about the Christmas spirit,” she sighs. Rose’s head jerks at that.

 

“It’s Christmas?” She looks around and bites down on her bottom lip. Why did she have to come back at Christmas?

 

“Well, duh. Maybe not on Mars, but here it’s Christmas Eve,” Donna tells her as she walks down the walkway. Rose decides to ignore the Mars thing as she follows Donna down the side of the street.

 

“You’re getting married on Christmas Eve?” Rose could think of better holidays to get married on. Sure, Christmas was festive and everything, but wedding stress on top of Holiday stress was never good. 

 

“I can’t stand it,” Donna tells her. “I hate Christmas. We’re honeymooning in Morocco. Sunshine, lovely.” Rose spots a cash point and stops Donna from walking. She shouldn’t be sweating in her wedding dress.

 

“Wait here, okay? I’ll go get some money.”

 

Donna raises an eyebrow at her. “How’re you gonna do that? With that silver stick thing from before?” Rose tugs on the bottom of her jacket. She couldn’t use her account because she had been ‘dead’ for a year or so already by the looks of it. She shoves a hand in her pocket looking for the psychic paper, but it wraps around another object instead. The sonic screwdriver!

 

“I’ll… Do something Martian,” she replied before turning around and going to the cash point queue. She pulls out the sonic screwdriver only to see a smaller version of it. And it had a pink tip instead of a blue one. Did the TARDIS make this for her?

 

\--

 

Donna looks on as the weird blonde girl waits in the queue. Donna bit her lip as she thought through her options. She could wait here for the Martian, or she could beg some money from a random stranger. Neither seemed appealing, but she couldn’t miss her own wedding. She spots a lady passing by and inhales before going over to her.

 

“Excuse me, I’m sorry to bother you, but I’m late to my wedding. I just need to borrow a tenner and I’ll pay you back, promise!”


	2. No One But Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the difference between the Doctor and Rose is huge

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> there are a lot of this 'if the Doctor were here he'd do this ___' and we know cannon tells us differently, but i find it funny and a reminder of how different the choices they make are.

The sound of trumpets brings Rose back from her thoughts. She looks over to see a troupe of Santa’s playing a Christmas tune. She frowns as she looks at them. Why did they seem familiar?

 

_ The pilotfish _ . 

 

Her blood runs cold as she hastily turns the other way. Why were they even here? Were they here for her? They couldn’t be. The Doctor wasn’t here and he wasn’t regenerating. So why were- She sees another pilotfish Santa posing as a cabbie. The same cab that Donna was getting into.

 

“DONNA!”

 

Donna looks up but can’t see why Rose called out to her. “Thanks for getting me this far, Spacegirl!” Donna yells at her before climbing in and the cab speeds off. Rose had been running towards the cab, but comes to a stop when she sees it driving away with Donna.

 

“Oh, Donna,” Rose says before turning to run to the TARDIS.

 

\--

 

“I promise to get you the rest of the money once we get there,” Donna tells her driver. “Oh, I look a mess. Can you hurry?” She looks over to see them pass the exit. “I said Chiswick! You missed the turning!” The driver stays silent and Donna is not happy with him and his Santa wearing arse. “Excuse me, we should’ve turned off back there! We’re going the wrong way!”

 

The cabbie doesn’t even twitch at her yelling at him. “What the Hell are ya’ doing!? I’m late for the wedding. My  _ own _ wedding! Do you get that?” When she gets nothing from him she decides that she’s had enough of people screwing up when she’s late for her wedding. “Right, that’s it. Turn around! Turn this cab around right now! Are you deaf, or what?” She pulls off his hood to make sure he can hear her, but instead of a human head she sees some robot.

 

“Oh, my god.” Great, another bleedin’  _ alien _ ! She looks around at the other drivers on the motorway and bangs on the glass to call for their attention. They either don’t pay attention or look at her like she’s crazy.  _ Great _ , she’s not getting any help then.

 

Before she turns back around in her seat, she sees that weird blue box bounce between cars and she feels her eyes bug out of her head. “You’ve  _ got _ to be  _ kidding _ me.”

 

The doors open and the blonde, Rose, shouts something at her. 

 

“Do  _ wha’ _ ?” She asks because there is no way she heard her correctly the first time.

 

“The door!” Rose shouts again pointing at it. Donna jiggles the handle but it refuses to budge.

 

“I can’t! It’s locked!” Rose pulls out a silver tube thing that’s different from the other silver tube thing she pulled out when asked for money. Bloody aliens. 

 

The girl has a worried look on her face, which makes Donna think that Rose hasn’t a clue what she’s doing. Bloody  _ shite _ aliens.

 

Donna opens the window instead and sticks her head out. “Santa’s a  _ robot _ !” She yells at Rose, who doesn’t seemed phased. Donna didn’t know what she expected from the Martian anyways.

 

“That’s why you need to open the door!”

 

“What for?”

 

“You’ve got to jump!” No way in _ Hell _ was she jumping out of a moving car!

 

“Am I blinking flip jumping!? I’m supposed to get _ married _ !” And then the cabbie decides to speed up so the blonde falls out of view. “Oh,  _ now _ you hurry,” she tells the robot.

 

Rose curses under her breath as Donna speeds out of view. The really nasty ones, the ones that Jack taught her that turned even the Doctor’s ears red. “Please go faster,” she urges the TARDIS, barely hanging on from getting tossed out the doors as she’s propelled faster down the motorway. When Donna comes back into view, Rose sighs in relief.

 

“Listen to me! You’ve got to  _ jump _ !” Rose yells at her, knuckles white as they grip the edge of the TARDIS.

 

“I’m not jumping on a motorway!” Donna yells back.

 

“Whatever that thing is, it needs you!” Rose tells her trying to explain. “An’ whatever it needs you for, it’s not good, Donna! Trust me on that. Now, jump!”

 

“I’m in my  _ wedding dress _ !” Donna shouts hesitating.

 

“I know! And I’m sorry about not getting it right the first time. But you won’t make it to your wedding if you stay in there!” Donna opens the door and Rose’s heart soars.

 

“I ca- I can’t do it!” Rose sees the terror in her eyes.

 

“I know you can!”

 

“Did they trust you? The one you lost?” Rose feels the air leave her lungs. Did the Doctor trust her? 

 

_ And I suppose, if this is my one chance to say it… Rose Tyler, I- _

 

“They do,” she says not even caring to shout. “With their life, now jump!” 

 

Rose, despite asking for her to repeatedly jump, was still surprised when Donna actually did. Rose crawls her way to the console and pulls down on the dematerialisation lever.

 

\--

 

They spilled out of the smoking TARDIS and onto a rooftop. Rose could really use that ice gun from three thousand years in the future. She also wished the Doctor had placed the fire extinguisher back in its correct spot.

 

“I’ve never known her to do any actual flying,” Rose coughs out. “Donna, are you okay?” She sees the other woman’s hunched shoulders and remembers. “The wedding!”

 

“Doesn’t matter,” Donna says softly, turned away from her.

 

“Of course it matters! It was your wedding and we missed it!”

 

“Yeah,” Donna sighs sitting down on the ledge of the building.

 

“You could rebook for New Year’s.” Rose felt guilty about her missing the wedding. Yet another thing that was her fault. Could she get nothing right?

 

“Course we can.” Donna still hadn’t looked up.

 

“I’m sorry,” Rose tells her placing a hand on her shoulder.

 

“It’s not your fault,” Donna says to her lap a sad smile on her face. She chuckles before looking up to the sky. “Wish you had a time machine. Then we could go back and get it right.”

 

“Yeah, too bad,” Rose agrees looking over her shoulder at the TARDIS. “But you wouldn’t like the result if I did.” She thinks back to the reapers that appeared and killed the Doctor. How they took him from reality. Donna gives her a look. “Supposedly,” she adds as she fiddles with the Doctor’s Janis Joplin jacket. She took it with her because she didn’t want the smoke to overpower the Doctor’s smell. 

 

Donna looks at it as Rose held it up to fold it. “God, your friend was skinny. That wouldn’t fit a rat!” Rose smiles.

 

“Yeah, he was slim and a little bit foxy,” she says as she spots something spill out of one of the pockets of the jacket as she laid it across her lap. It was a golden ring. The kind used for weddings. She put it on just to see what it felt like.

 

“Oh, do you have to rub it in?” Donna asks as she looks over to see Rose putting the ring on. Rose smiles at her sheepishly.

 

“Sorry, I jus’... It reminded me of him, is all.” Rose wasn’t sure if that was correct or not, but it felt right on her finger. Like it belonged there.

 

“For better or for worse?” Donna asks and Rose’s smile turns genuine.

 

“Yeah, dunno.”

 

“So, come one then,” Donna says stretching a little. “Robot Santa’s, what’s that about?”

 

“Well, the Santa thing’s just a disguise of theirs. Met ‘em last Christmas.”

 

“Why? What happened then?” Rose looks up from the ring to Donna.

 

“Really? That great big spaceship hovering over London? All those people on the roofs?” Donna shakes her head.

 

“I had a bit of a hangover,” she explains and Rose nods. She had once been so plastered, she had thought she was dancing with Mickey, but it was actually a light pole, and they weren’t in a dance club, they were outside her Estate. Speaking of, she could see it from here.

 

“That’s where I grew up. I guess someone else lives there now, though. Another family or another lonesome person like me.” She can see the Christmas decorations flashing in the window and longs to go back to last year when they were all together for Christmas.

 

“Hang on, I thought you were Martian,” Donna says and Rose huffs a laugh through her nose.

 

“Nope. Human. As human as they come.” 

 

“But how come you got a spaceship if you’re human? You from the future?”

 

“No. From the past, actually,” Rose tells her. 

 

“What? So, you’re from like, World War Two or something?”

 

“What? No. Although I’ve been there. That was the day everybody lived.” Rose smiles as she remembers the Doctor showing off for her. 

 

_ You want moves, Rose? _

 

“What are you on about?” Donna asks and Rose shakes her head.

 

“Wrong topic. Why were the pilotfish after you? And what does that have to do with you ending up in the TARDIS?” She thinks it over. “Have you met anyone alien? Or touched anything alien?”

 

“I’ve met you,” Donna replies looking at her like she’s got two heads.

 

“Right, but I’m not alien.”

 

“You are to me.” Rose is taken aback by her words. 

 

_ But she's not Rose Tyler. Not anymore. She's not even human. _

 

“Right,” Rose repeats looking down to her lap as she tries not to be offended.

 

“I’m sorry,” Donna says after a minute of silence. “I just- I’m a secretary. I don’t have any idea about aliens and whatnot.” Rose clears her throat and gives her a weak smile.

 

“It’s okay. It’s jus’ hard right now.” Rose clears her throat again. “What company?”

 

“What?”

 

“What company do you work for?”

 

“I’m at HC Clements. That’s where I met Lance,” Donna goes all starry-eyed when she says her fiancee’s name. “I was temping. I mean, it was all a bit posh, really. I’d spent the last two years at a double glazing firm.  _ Well, _ I thought, I’m never gonna fit in here. And then he made me a cup of coffee. I mean, that doesn’t just happen! Nobody get’s the secretary a coffee! And Lance, he’s the head of HR! He didn’t need to bother with me! But, he was nice, he was funny. And it turns out, he thought everyone else was really snotty, too. So, that’s how it started, me and him. One cup of coffee and that’s it.” Rose smiled at the story.

 

“He sounds lovely. I met mine when he blew up my job,” Rose shares grinning when Donna looks over at her in shock. “How long ago did you meet him? This Lance fellow.”

 

As soon as she mentioned his name, Donna put on a dopey smile. She was clearly head over heels for this guy. And Rose felt even worse for making her miss the wedding.

 

“Six months ago,” she sighs.

 

“That’s a bit quick. Though, I suppose, if you know, you know.” Donna nods.

 

“He insisted,” Donna insisted. “He nagged and he nagged me. He just wore me down until, finally, I gave in.” Rose has to hide her smile.

 

“Sure.”

 

“I’m telling the truth,” she says.

 

Rose puts her hands up in surrender. “Okay, I believe ya.” She waits a beat. “What kind of stuff does HC Clements do? What’s the company make?”

 

“Oh, security systems. Y’know, entry codes, ID cards, that sort of thing. Ask me, it’s a posh name for a locksmith’s.” Rose frowns.

 

“Keys?” So why go after Donna? Why not a computer person or someone who makes the coding or whatever?

 

“Anyways, enough of my CV. Come on, I guess it’s time to face the consequences. Oh, this is going to be shaming. You can do the explaining, Martian Girl.” Donna gets up and stretches.

 

Rose sighs as she stands, too. She drapes the coat over her shoulder dusting off her bottom. “Yeah, I’m not from Mars. I thought you knew that,” Rose tells her as she walks to the TARDIS, but Donna’s not listening. Rose lays the Doctor’s coat gently on the railing just inside the doors. The smoke had cleared out a little and she couldn’t wear it or bring it with her.

 

“Oh, I had this great big reception all planned. Everyone’s going to be heartbroken.”

 

\--

 

_ Everyone looked something _ , Rose thought, but heartbroken wasn’t one of them. They were all partying as if the wedding had been completed.

 

“Well, this is not half-rude,” Rose mutters, not that anyone would be able to hear her over the music. Which gets cut off when they see Donna.

 

“You had the reception _ without  _ me!?” Donna was furious and Rose did not blame her. What kind of family partied when their daughter was missing?

 

“Donna?” A man, Rose assumes is the groom due to his tuxedo, walks through the crowd. He was dancing pretty close to that blonde woman earlier and Rose automatically disliked him. “What happened to you?”

 

“You had the reception  _ without _ me?” Donna repeats and Rose places a soothing hand on her back, rubbing up and down to comfort her.

 

“They had the reception  _ without me _ !” She yells turning to Rose.

 

“Yes, and I have half a mind to cuss them all out,” Rose says glaring at the group surrounding them.

 

“Well, it was all paid for, why not?” the blonde woman Lance danced with asked. Rose instantly hated her.

 

“Thank you, Nerys,” Donna spits and Rose hates the woman even more now.

 

“Well, what were we supposed to do?” An older woman asks as she elbows her way through the crowd. “I got your silly little message in the end. ‘I’m on Earth’? Very funny. But what the Hell happened?” That question seemed to open the floodgates, as everyone else started talking and then shouting to be heard over everyone else.

 

Donna starts to cry and Rose barely lets Lance come up and hug the woman. She wants to shove her knee in his face and then straight into his family jewels. It was something that Jack had taught her that the Doctor disapproved of. If he were here with her, though, she’s pretty sure he’d approve of it now.

 

Donna turns from weeping on Lance’s shoulder to give her a wink before going back to crying. Rose realises that Donna is faking. She should have known, really.

 

“Oh, you cheeky minx,” Rose whispers hiding a smile and glaring extra hard at Nerys just for fun.

 

Two minutes later, the party is back to full throttle, although Rose wasn’t in the partying mood. No matter how much Donna asked her to join in. 

 

She had her back to the dancing, not wanting to think about the simpler times when everyone lived and they danced to Glenn Miller. She, instead, was looking up more information on this HC Clement’s that Donna worked for.

 

She was back in that room with that horridly white wall when she saw who the Sole Proprietor of HC Clement’s was.  _ Torchwood _ . Why did it have to be bloody Torchwood? She would’ve preferred those Sycorax aliens coming back.

 

“‘Cos they haven’t ruined my life enough,” she snarls jamming her phone deep into her pocket. She flags down the bartender and orders a double tequila. She would need at least triple that to get the ice out of her veins. She shoots them back and blinks away the memory of twirling around the console room with her leather jacketed Doctor.

 

A man crashes into the spot next to her and she looks over to see a skinny bloke smiling smarmily at her. “Hey there,” he leers at her and she’s about to tell him to piss off when she spots the camera in his hand. She was rather curious as to how Donna teleported to the TARDIS. Maybe he got it on film.

 

“Hi,” she says smiling and giggling at him. She’s gagging on the inside, though. “Nice camera.”

 

He looks down at the camera in his hands like he’s forgotten he had it. “Oh, thanks.”

 

“You filmed the wedding, right?” She asks him looking up at him through her eyelashes and biting her lower lip.

 

“Oh, I taped the whole thing,” he boasted nodding his head enthusiastically. “They’ve all had a look. They said sell it to You’ve Been Framed. I said, more like the news!” She giggles at that and he puffs up a bit and turns the camera towards her. “Here we are,” he says as he plays the video.

 

Rose sees Donna smiling as she walks down the aisle before she starts to scream and then a golden glow surrounds her. The glow then swarms up to the ceiling and disappears. Rose could’ve sworn she’d seen something like that before.

 

“What? That looks familiar.” She frowns. “Play it again?” She asks biting her thumbnail.

 

“Clever, mind,” the guy told her as he did as she asked. “Good trick, I’ll give her that. I was clapping.” Rose rewatches as Donna glows golden before vanishing.

 

“But that looks like… TARDIS stuff,” she struggles to put it to words. “The Doctor would’ve known what this was. He’s never in the right place, though, is he? Or the right time, mind.” Those tequila shots were affecting her more than she thought they would. Her tolerance for alcohol has really gone down ever since Jack left.

 

“What?” The man asks her confused by her ramble.

 

Rose shakes her head. “Nothin’. Jus’ a bit sloshed is all,” she explains as she gets off her barstool.

 

“Well, if tha’s your way of askin’ for a dance…,” he tells her as he also gets up from his barstool. Rose doesn’t even pay him any more attention as she makes her way across the room. She needs fresh air.

 

Only, as she makes her way over to a window, she sees three pilotfish Santa’s with trumpets and a tuba walking towards the reception hall. She runs over to where Donna is dancing in the middle of the dance floor and grabs her arm.

 

“Donna! They’ve found you!”

 

Donna stops moving and laughing, going still as she lets Rose’s words sink in. “You said I was safe!”

 

“I’m sorry, but they must be tracking you somehow! We’ve gotta get out of here!” Rose looks around the room.

 

“Oh, my god. It’s all my family,” Donna realises and Rose winces in sympathy. She pulls on Donna’s arm and leads her to the back door of the reception hall.

 

“Let’s try the back exit!” She opens the door and they both stop as they look at another pilotfish Santa coming up the road. “Maybe not!” Okay, she could see why Donna hated Christmas now.

 

“We’re trapped!” Donna yells as they run to a window to see another pilotfish Santa walking down the side street. This one had a remote controller in his hands and Rose’s blood runs cold as she sees the Christmas trees reflected in the window.

 

“Christmas trees,” she whispers as she turns to face them.

 

“What about ‘em?” Donna asks as she does the same, leaning away from the nearest one and giving it a scathing look.

 

“They spin an’ kill,” Rose explains before walking up to the crowd and spreading her hands out over her head. “Everyone! Get away from the trees!” She shouts over the music. She could hear Donna warning others away from the trees also and mentally thanked the woman for believing her.

 

“Lance! Turn off the music!” Donna shouts and the music cuts out again. Donna’s mum fights her way clear of the crowds and gives Rose a scathing look.

 

“Oh, for god’s sake, the blonde’s an idiot!” She tells Donna. “What harms a Christmas tree gonna- oh!” Rose spins around from facing the crowd to see the ornaments floating off the trees.  _ This will not end good _ , Rose thinks as everyone looks around in wonder. It isn’t two seconds later that one of the ornaments shoots straight for the middle of the crowd and explodes upon impact with the floor.

 

Utter chaos. That was the only thing Rose could use to describe the sheer level of panic the crowd gave off. Explosions were happening left and right and people were trampling over one another to get to cover. Rose was jostled by one person and fell smack into Donna.

 

“These people need to try to stay calm,” Rose urges the woman. Donna huffs hair out of her face and gives Rose a look.

 

“Yeah, fat chance of that happening!” She shouts before running off to save a family member from a falling tree.

 

Rose bites her lip as she looks around at the destruction. “Oh, what would the Doctor do if he were here?” She asks herself. She spots the sound equipment and clenches her fists. The Doctor was fond of high pitched noises, but he had never told her that setting. He hadn’t told her a great many deal of things, either. Like what to do when he was stuck in another dimension. She wasn’t cut out for this.

 

An ornament went off just to the left of her, jarring her from not only her thoughts, but also the spot where she stood.  _ This was just like any other adventure _ , she told herself.  _ Where the Doctor an’ me get seperated and I help save the day while he licks something. _ Drawing in a deep breath, she looks around the room once more and spots a lone pilotfish Santa with a tuba. Perfect.

 

Rose sneaks her way towards the robot, plucking an ornament from the air before it had the chance to explode. She tosses the ornament into the pilotfish Santa’s face just as he turns to face her. Rose throws her hands up to shield her face from the blast as the robot falls to the floor, headless and lifeless. She picks up the tuba and hefts it on her hip, testing it by aiming it at a tree and pressing a button. Luckily for her, the tree exploded and she was in business.

 

“Oi! Santa’s!” She shouts, drawing their attention away from the wedding crowd. “Next time you crash a party,” she says as she swings the tuba in their direction. “Make sure you’re the only one who knows how to play the tuba!” She fires at the one with the remote control and the ornaments fall harmlessly to the floor. The other pilotfish Santa’s start to fire back at her and she falls on the floor and slides behind a tipped over table. She’s glad she’s the only one behind it.

 

The tuba wasn’t really a precise weapon, but it was all muscle and never ran out of energy, so as she peeked out from behind the table to shoot two of the pilotfish Santa’s with one blast, the third one hitting her shoulder, making her drop the tuba. 

 

The robot advances on her, but Rose uses that to her advantage, thankful for Jack and his many stories of his times in the Time Agency. She rolled the tuba onto her stomach and kicked out at the robot’s feet and fired when it fell towards her. The pilotfish stood still for a few seconds before falling backwards onto the floor.

 

Rose pushed the tuba off of her and staggered to her feet. 

 

Before she had a chance to look around for Donna, the woman was already upon her, hurting her shoulder by squeezing her tightly. Rose didn’t mind, though. This was the first real hug she’s had in awhile, aside from the small one Donna gave her earlier.

 

“Not bad for improvisation, huh?” Rose whispers to her. Donna lets out a hysterical laugh and leans back, tears in her eyes.

 

“Thank you,” Donna tells her sincerely before going over to check on her mum and her family. Rose also helped people come out from their hiding places, shoving debris and chairs out of the way. She was glad the only bleeding injury was a slash across the forearm of a distant cousin of Donna’s. The rest were bruised and shaken, but nothing major.

 

Rose stretches as best she could without hurting her shoulder before going over to the charred remains of the pilotfish Santa’s. Now, that is one aspect of Christmas she will always hate. Why did aliens have to ruin Santa Claus for her? She kicks one robot’s head away from it’s body.

 

“You gonna melt now?” she asks it before squatting down and examining the still intact remote controller. “Why use this first instead of the trumpets and tuba?” she pockets the remote wondering if she could use the TARDIS to track the signal back to the owner. Well, if the TARDIS could track the signal back to the owner. Rose knew she would not be useful in that process. She also takes some of those ornament bombs. They might come in handy later.

 

“We’ve got to get these people to a hospital,” Donna says a little out of breath as she comes over to where Rose is squatting. Rose frowns at that, still in thinking mode.

 

Her automatic response was to tell Donna that they were fine, that no one was severely injured. But why? Why did they not just explode the ornaments directly at the people like Rose did to the robot? Unless… They wanted Donna alive. Rose looks around and grabs several more ornaments, she would have to test them once she got back to the TARDIS to see if her hunch was correct. And if it was, then what? What could she do to this mysterious alien that wanted to capture Donna alive?

 

“Did you hear me?” We need to get these people to a hospital,” Donna repeats. Rose stands and looks around at the destroyed room.

 

“I’m sorry, Donna,” Rose apologises for more things than just a ruined wedding and reception hall. “I may not be a doctor or  _ the _ Doctor, but I’m going to help in my own way.” She makes to leave and Donna stops her.

 

“But you’ve got to help,” Donna pleads and Rose shakes her head.

 

“Your family will be fine, I’ll make sure of it. You should stay here and be with them, though. You never know how much time you have left with them.” Rose gives her a parting smile before jogging out the door.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i feel like, with hers in another dimension, family would be big to Rose. if i had lost my family, i'd fight like hell for others to keep their's together, too.


	3. Adventure, Minus the Hand Holding

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rose and Donna get to the bottom of the mystery. And to the bottom of the HC Clements building.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was bored so im posting this ahead of schedule, enjoy

“Donna?” her mother asks her, pulling her from looking after Rose. “Who is she? Who is that girl?”  _ The one with all the answers _ , Donna thinks but doesn’t say. She just turns and runs after her, hoping she didn’t get too far.

 

She spots her by the fountain looking up into the sky, shielding her face from the sun.

 

“But why me?” Donna asks Rose, startling her from her thoughts.

 

“Donna? What about- I told you-”

 

“What have I done?” Donna interrupts. She wants answers, dammit.

 

“I dunno,” Rose tells her shrugging her shoulders and wincing as she does so. “I’m making it all up as I go, to be honest.” She bites her lip as she turns to face the sky once more. “If I find out who’s in charge of the pilotfish, then I can find out.” Donna, too, turns her face skywards, wondering what was so fascinating about a patch of blue sky.

 

\--

 

“Clever, clever, clever, girl. Eat you up all snicker-snacker, little travelling girl…. She shall come to me and the beautiful bride. Such secrets to unlock. I shall descend this night. I shall descend upon this Earth and  _ shine _ !”

 

\--

 

“So, what do we do now?” Donna asks as she looks back down to the girl beside her. Rose bites her lip again.

 

“Uhm, well, back to the start, I guess.  _ Torchwood _ ,” Rose spits out bitterly and Donna can see the pain in her eyes.

 

“Tor-  _ what _ ?”

 

Rose swallows grimacing as she does so. “Nevermind for now. We’ve gotta get to your job. It’s the most likely place that this started. I wouldn’t put it past them.”

 

“Put it past who?” Donna asks realising that Rose held more secrets than she gave. Rose just pushes past her and calls down Lance.

 

“Oi, Lance! Could you give us a lift?”

 

\--

 

They’re entering Donna and Lance’s job and Rose is wishing she had the Doctor’s hand to hold. Maybe she wouldn’t feel so out of her depth if he were beside her. Maybe her heart wouldn’t hurt so much if she could see his smile as he lead them on an adventure. Maybe she wouldn’t have this bitter ash taste in her mouth if Torchwood hadn’t taken everything away from her.

 

She looks around the regular looking offices and wants to throw up. “So this is what they decided to buy, huh?” she asks shuffling through a pile of papers on a random desk.

 

“Who?” Donna asked her again.

 

“Torchwood,” Rose tells her moving on from the desk she was at to another.

 

“That name again,” Donna mutters. “Who are they, then?”

 

“They were behind the Battle of Canary Wharf,” Rose says.

 

“The what?” Donna asks frowning at her and Rose stops looking through a stack of papers.

 

“Skies full of Daleks? The whole of London full of Daleks and Cybermen?”

 

Donna makes an ‘ah’ face. “I was in Spain,” she explains.

 

“Pretty sure there were Cybermen in Spain,” Rose says as she shifts to a new pile of papers. This poor secretary.

 

“Scuba diving?” Donna offers and Rose might have left it at that, but then she remembered that the Cybermen had came through first as ghosts.

 

“You don’t even remember the world full of ghosts?” Donna shakes her head and behind her Lance is also frowning.

 

“Nevermind,” Rose dismisses. She was clearly not getting these two to remember anything about that day or the month or so following up to it. She goes over to another desk further into the office and shuffles through the papers. She honestly had no clue what she was looking for. The Doctor would know. He always knew what to do. Or, at least he’d pretend to know, so that’s what she was doing. Bluffing.

 

“But what do they want with me?” Donna asks sounding desperate. Rose bites her lip as she sits down in the office chair before her.

 

“I dunno. They probably made you all glowy for something bad, knowing Torchwood. But I’ve only seen that type of glowing coming from the TARDIS,” she tells Donna thinking back to Margaret the Slitheen and Cardiff. “I jus’... I don’t know how they got a hold of some of that, or how it connects to what they’re doing, or how you teleported to my ship.” Rose can feel the panic rise in her throat as she realises just how lost she truly is. “ _ Stupid _ ape,” she whispers as she wrinkles the paper in her fists.

 

“Don’t say that,” Donna tells her softly and Rose sniffs as she tries to smile at the woman. If the Doctor were here he would say the same thing to her. If he were here she wouldn’t have to deal with all this pressure. If he were here- but he wasn’t and she was. She drew in a deep breath and gave Donna a more sincere smile.

 

“Uhm, Lance,” Rose clears her throat. “What was HC Clement’s up to? Was there any top secret, hush hush, do not enter type projects?” He was head of a department here, he should probably know.

 

“I dunno. I’m in charge of personnel, I wasn’t project manager,” Lance automatically responds before coming to his senses. “What the Hell are we talking about? You’re just a teenage girl!” He points out.

 

Rose stops looking through a fresh stack of papers at that. “Well, at least I’m not the kind of person who throws a party while my fiancee is missing,” Rose tells him sweetly, her smile just as deadly sweet. Lance swallows and pulls at his collar. Rose gets up from her chair and walks past him to go to the lift. Maybe there would be some answers on a different level.

 

“She’s got a point,” Donna tells Lance as they follow behind Rose.

 

“I said sorry!” Lance shouts. “Your mother said it was just a prank!”

 

Donna rolls her eyes. “Oh, yeah. ‘Cos my mum is right about everything,” Donna says harshly before looking over to where Rose was stood in the lift. “Rose?”

 

“Hmm?”

 

“What’cha lookin’ at?”

 

“Lift buttons,” Rose explains waving a hand absentmindedly at them before returning it to her side.

 

Lance scoffs as Donna asks, “What’s so special about them?” She peeks over the lip of the lift door and looks at them herself.

 

“Well, jus’ thinking how come there’s a basement button and then another one for a lower basement. You know about that?” she asks not taking her eyes from the buttons.

 

“Didn’t even know there were a regular basement,” Donna tells her and Lance scoffs again.

 

“Are you telling me this building’s got a  _ secret floor _ ?” he asks incredulously.

 

“No,” Rose responds turning to look him in the eye, a small smirk on her face. “I’m  _ showing _ you this building’s got a secret floor.” She gestures once more to the lift buttons and Lance glares at her indignantly. 

 

“Needs a key,” Donna points out. Rose pulls out a different tube thing with a pink end and wiggles it, grinning with her tongue poking out through her teeth. 

 

_ So she’s got a pencil _ , Donna thinks before Rose points the eraser end at the spot on the lift where a key is supposed to go. The eraser lights up and Donna wonders what kind of non-Martian Martian Rose was.

 

“Got it right here,” she says and Donna grins back at her. “I can take it from here. You should really be with your family. I meant what I said about not having enough time.” Donna is once again reminded of how broken the young girl looked back in that weird box of hers.

 

“No chance, Martian Girl,” Donna says instead of complying. “You’re the one that keeps saving my life. I ain’t lettin’ you out of my sight.” Donna lifts up her dresses ends and steps into the lift right beside Rose.

 

“Okay,” Rose sighs, the smile on her face giving her away. “I know when I’ve been beaten.”

 

“Lance!” Donna yells as she sees him standing in front of her with a worried look on his face.

 

“Maybe I should go to the police?” He suggests and Rose raises an eyebrow at him.

 

“Inside!” Donna snaps and points to the spot in front of her. He sighs before doing as he’s told.

 

“Wish I had mine trained like that,” Rose muses thinking about all the times the Doctor walked off on her.

 

Donna shoots her a smile while Lance shouts, “Oi!”

 

\--

 

“The bride approaches! She is my key!”

 

\--

 

The doors open into a cement corridor.

 

“Where are we?” Donna asks as they slowly step out. “What goes on down here?”

 

“I’m getting serious deja vu,” Rose mutters to herself thinking of Henricks’ own basement. At least she knows there isn’t any mannequins down here. She thinks.

 

“Do you think Mr. Clements knows about this place?” Donna continues with her questions as they look around.

 

Rose shrugs. “Probably. I mean, he does own the building. It’s most likely he’s in way over his head, though.” She spots something over Donna’s shoulder and smiles. “Oh, I’ve always wanted to try those!” She giggles as she goes over to the segways.

 

Rose is surprised Lance barely puts up a fight about getting onto them, but is too overjoyed at being able to finally operate a segway, that she doesn’t pay him no mind. They get part of the ways down the corridor and Donna looks over with a grin on her face.

 

Rose doesn’t know who cracks up first, but they are suddenly laughing as they segway their way down the corridor. Lance isn’t joining in on the laughter. He’s, instead, looking at them like they have lost their minds. Rose is pretty sure she has lost everything else already, so why should her mind remain?

 

“Oh, lighten up, Lance,” Rose tells him as she stops by the first door they’ve come across. It has the Torchwood T symbol on it.

 

“It says ‘Authorized Personnel Only’,” Lance points out as he falls off his segway.

 

“Well, we wanted to know where we were,” Rose reasons before spinning the handle and opening the door. It was a small access room with a ladder stretching far above their heads.

 

“You better come back,” Donna warns her as Rose starts to climb.

 

Rose looks slightly down at the woman and smiles. “I wouldn’t leave you, Donna,” Rose says sincerely. She starts her climb again noticing how easy it was without cat nun zombie clones climbing up after her.

 

\--

 

“Donna, have you thought about this properly?” Lance asks her. “I mean, this is serious! What the Hell are we going to do?” Donna thinks about it for a second before replying.

 

“I thought July,” she offers as she looks up to check on Rose’s progress. Lance huffs and titters as they wait for Rose to come back down.

 

\--

 

“It’s the Thames Flood Barrier,” Rose pants out looking nonplussed as she drops back to the ground. “Right above us. I wonder why they thought this was the best spot,” Rose thinks aloud.

 

“What, there’s like, a secret base hidden underneath a major London landmark?” Donna asks incredulously.

 

“I know!” Rose laughs. “Unheard of!” Donna shakes her head at the younger girl, wondering what had gotten her in the mood all of a sudden.

 

They get back on the segways and ride them all the way to the end of the corridor. There are double doors at the dead end, looking like someone had plucked them from a hospital or lab.

 

“Oh, the Doctor would have a field day in here,” Rose whistles as they all walk into the lab on the other side of the doors. “I’d have to drag him away from here before he’d lick something gross.”

 

“What?” Donna asks looking around for what a person could possibly lick in here that wouldn’t give them a virus.

 

“Yeah, he was always sticking things in his mouth,” Rose tells her with a nod of her head. “We were at this lady’s house one time, and he just shoves his hand into a jar of her marmalade!”

 

“No!” Donna replies, thoroughly scandalised.

 

“That’s not even the worst of it!” Rose says before getting distracted by the tubes running from ceiling to floor. She goes up and touches one, looking through the see-through portion of the piping. “It looks like they’re taking something from the water in the Thames,” she muses before going to another pipe.

 

“No wonder there was a radioactive symbol on the sign back there,” Donna mentions and Rose gives her a grin.

 

“This is some serious squipment,” Rose says as she pokes a giant pot thing the pipes from the ceiling went into. “Expensive looking, too. I wonder who’s footing the bill.” She fiddles with a lever and watches as steam begins to pour out of a tube on the giant pot machine thing.

 

“Who are you exactly?” Lance asks her crossing his arms as if to intimidate her.

 

“Oh, I’m sorry. How rude of me,” Rose smiles as she stays where she is looking him straight in the eye. “I’m Rose. Rose Prentice.” Her hand falls on a small switch that ejects a vial from one of the tubes. Holding it up to her eyes, she can see that the liquid inside was clear. It could be the end product, whatever it is.

 

“Is that what’s inside me?” Donna asks coming closer to get a better look.

 

“Dunno,” Rose answers truthfully before turning the top to take it off. Maybe if she could sniff it.

 

“Oh, my god!” Donna shouts and Rose looks up to see her glowing golden again. She immediately twists the lid back to how it was and Donna stops glowing. She blinks back a sudden bout of dizziness and focuses on Donna freaking out in front of her.

 

“I’m gonna change my answer to yes,” Rose says slowly looking down at the vial in her hand and holding it out away from her.

 

“But what do they bloody need me for!?” Donna asks breathing heavily. She was working herself up again. Before Rose could give her an answer Donna points a finger at her. “An’ if you say you don’t know one more time!”

 

Rose panics and looks around her. She really didn’t- her eyes land on a petri dish and she vaguely remembers her Year 11 science class. This was no where close to that, but it sort of made sense. Barely.

 

“My best guess?” Rose asks and Donna nods. “Cultivation,” she states plainly.

 

“What?”

 

“Well, I mean- and don’t take this the wrong way- but think of yourself as a petri dish and this,” she holds up the vial of clear liquid, “This needs you to grow or activate or something.” Rose winces and bites her lip as she sees the look on Donna’s face.

 

“And how the Hell else am I supposed to take it?”

 

“Donna, I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I don’t know!” Rose frustratedly wipes at her eyes. “I- I was always jus’ the help in these situations! I’m not the Doctor! I’m not  _ anybody _ !” She can’t feel her lungs getting in any air and starts to hyperventilate. This was embarrassing and she felt useless.

 

Donna feels her chest constrict at Rose’s statement. “No,” she tells the young girl “No, I’m sorry.” She pulls the girl into a hug. “I shouldn’t’ve put this all on you. It’s just that- you seemed to know what you were doing, is all,” Donna explains in between soothing the distressed girl in her arms. Rose gives a small hysterical laugh and sniffs.

 

“Well, I don’t. Not really. And I’m sorry you’ve only got me. I’m jus’ new to all this,” Rose mumbles into Donna’s shoulder.

 

“New to what?”

 

“Being on my own,” Rose says quietly and Donna tightens the hug.

 

“Oh, darling.” She can feel Rose tense up before leaning more into the hug and Donna rocks them back and forth for a good minute or two before they both lean back and Rose wipes at her face.

 

“Thanks,” she says with a small smile. “I really needed that.”

 

“Am I safe? I mean- Sorry to go back to it, but- This liquid. Is it safe?” She can see Rose thinking on it.

 

“I can- After this is over, on the TARDIS, I can do a scan to check. But right now, with what I know, I’m going to have to say no, you're not safe.” Donna, expecting the worst, still feels like a lorry hit her at top speed at the girl's words.

 

“An’ I’m only thinking that ‘cos of Torchwood. There ain’t nothin’ safe about Torchwood,” Rose adds. Donna feels like she can’t breathe.

 

“Oh, my god.” She was going to die on her wedding day. She was going to die and her family would never understand why.

 

“I’ll sort it out, though, Donna!” Rose tells her. “Whatever’s been done to you, I’ll reverse it! The TARDIS can reverse it! I’m not about to lose someone else!”

 

_ “Oh, she is long since lost,” _ a voice echoes around the room as a wall to the lab slowly moves up. Rose and Donna take a step towards each other as the room on the other side is revealed to them.

 

It kind of reminded Rose of her first adventure with her first Doctor. Only, instead of a melting plastic alien monster in the pit, the pit was just a hole in the ground. A very large hole in the middle of the room.

 

_ “I have waited so long, hibernating at the edge of the Universe, until the Secret Heart was uncovered and called out to waken…,” _ the voice tells them and Rose wonders what it was about villains that made them want to ramble. She can see the pilotfish Santa’s lining the top of the room, their guns aimed right at the two of them.

 

“Lance…,” Donna calls but she doesn’t see him. “Lance?” Her fiancee was gone. He left her.

 

“Oh, he’s done a runner,” Rose says bitterly. “I’m sorry, Donna.” She doesn’t say that she hadn’t really liked him, or that Donna could do better. She had been in a relationship once where the bloke put himself first and Rose had still stuck with him for a year and a half.

 

“He left me,” Donna says her voice sounding small and Rose didn’t like that. Donna was a lot of things, but she was never meek or small. She gives the woman’s hand a squeeze before walking over to the giant hole. Is this what the pit on that impossible planet looked like?

 

“You’ve been drilling,” Rose points out leaning slightly over the edge. It made her feel light headed so she leaned back. “How far down does it go?”

 

_ “Down and down. All the way to the centre of the Earth,” _ the voice tells her and Rose bites her lip from showing how pleased she was.

 

“Well,  _ someone’s _ dramatic. What’d you do that for, then?” She hopes the voice answers her again.

 

“Dinosaurs,” Donna says over her shoulder and Rose frowns.

 

“Like the book?”

 

“I only saw the film. Y’know, Under the Earth, with Dinosaurs,” Donna tells her helpfully.

 

“Journey to the Centre of the Earth,” Rose corrects, it was one of her favourite books growing up. She mulls it over. “Dinosaurs? ‘S better than students, at least.” She gives a small shrug.

 

“Students?” Donna repeats curiously.

 

_ “Such a sweet couple,” _ the voice mocks bringing Rose back on topic.

 

“Oh, do give up the dark and mysterious act, please. I’ve seen better,” Rose says as she rolls her eyes. Fake it until you feel it, right? “Let’s see your dramatic entrance, instead. Where are you?”

 

_ “High in the sky. Floating so high on Christmas night!” _ the voice answers. Rose turns to Donna and rolls her eyes again.

 

“Can we just get this over with and have you show yourself already?” Rose had done plenty of dramatic flairs with past villains and she was over it on her first one, so this was just tiresome.

 

_ “Who are you with such command?” _ the voice demands and Rose straightens. When Donna had asked her that earlier she hadn’t known, not then. Now, though, now she does.

 

“Rose Prentice, Defender of Earth,” she says haughtily. It hurt to not say her actual last name, but Rose Tyler was dead in this Universe, so she would have to make do.

 

_ “Prepare all you like, Flower Girl, for you will be left quite defenseless against me,” _ the voice claims before a giant bloody spider-esque alien appears before them.

 

“You’re a giant bloody spider!” Rose says breathlessly. Donna squeezes her hand and Rose remembers the role she was playing. “Right, where are you from, then? Maybe I can send you back.” It was what the Doctor would do. It was what she  _ had _ done before.

 

“I am the Empress of the Racnoss, and there is no going back,” the spider states.

 

“How do you mean? You a fugitive?” She thinks back to what the Empress said earlier and puts it together. Not a Margaret, a Doctor. “No, your world is gone, isn’t it? And you’re the only one left.”

 

The Empress smiles. “Such a sharp mind,” she compliments and Rose rolls her eyes once more, her eyes catching sight of something high on the ceiling.

 

“Uh, Donna?”

 

“Yeah?” Donna asks back distractedly.

 

“Do you know anyone with those black and white shoes? Y’know, with the broguing?”

 

“Oh, yeah,” Donna replies laughing a bit. “Mr. Clement’s. We used to laugh, used to call him the fat cat in spats!” Rose nudges her and then tips her chin up towards the ceiling. Donna goes pale as she spots the shoes.

 

“Oh, god you _ ate _ him!” She accuses the Empress.

 

“Is it our fault the Racnoss are born starving? We used to devour whole planet’s and now, that’s all of my Christmas diner!” The Empress says, like it’s something to be sad over.

 

“Should you even exist? I mean, if you’re the only one, should you still be here?” Rose asks, thinking that if she were like a Doctor, then did her planet also get lost in the Time War? The question gets a rise out of the Empress.

 

“My kind was wiped out!” She hisses out between her pincers. “All except for me!”

 

“But what have I got inside me?” Donna asks gaining her courage. “That glowing liquid? What is it?” she demands.

 

“Huon Particles,” the Empress responds. “Just what my kind feeds on,” she says licking her pincers. Rose grimaces at that. This was not looking good.

 

Donna spots Lance coming up behind the Empress and holds back a smile. “Oi! Look at me, Lady, I’m talking! Where do I fit in? How come I get all stacked up with the Hu- whatever? Look at me, you! Look me in the eye and tell me!” Donna demands as she subtly watches Lance’s progress in sneaking up behind the Empress.

 

“The bride is so feisty!” The Empress says instead of answering and Donna nods.

 

“Yes, I am! And I don’t know what you are, you big… thing! But a spider is just a spider and an axe is an axe,  _ now do it! _ ”

 

The Empress looks behind her a spots Lance, who heaves the axe in the air before swinging it without hitting the Empress. They both start to laugh.

 

“That was a good one!” Lance says pointing at the Racnoss. “Your face!” Rose is thinking some serious curses towards him.

 

“Lance is funny,” The Empress laughs out.

 

“What?” Donna asks dumbly, wondering what just happened.

 

“You sunnova-” Rose starts.

 

“What? Lance, don’t be so stupid!  _ Get her _ !” Donna shouts over her.

 

“God, she’s thick!” Lance says to the Empress. “Months I’ve had to put up with her,  _ months _ ! A woman who can’t even point to Germany on a map!”

 

Donna starts to cry. “I don’t understand,” she says weakly and Rose slips her hand in Donna’s for support. What she wants to do is go over to Lance and toss him down the pit after bashing him repeatedly in the face first.

 

“Wait,” Rose says as she remembers something. “Donna, coffee.”

 

“What?”

 

“How you met him,” Rose says slowly so Donna could follow along. She knew what grief did to your thinking process.

 

“He made me cof- fee,” Donna stumbles as she puts it together.

 

“Everyday I made you coffee,” Lance confirms with a nod.

 

“You dosed her with those particles for six months?” Rose asks harshly her eyes filled with rage. How dare he do this to Donna. How dare he gloat about slowly killing her.

 

“You were poisoning me?” Donna asks him.

 

“It’s all in the title, sweetheart. The Head of Human Resources. This time, it’s personnel,” Lance tells them and he and the Empress laugh darkly at his pun.

 

“But… we were getting married,” Donna points out.

 

“Yeah, well, I couldn’t risk you running off!” Lance shouts. “I had to say yes! And then I was stuck with a woman who thinks the height of excitement is a new flavour Pringle! Oh, I had to sit there and listen to all that yap yap yap,” Lance complains as he paces back and forth. “‘Oh, Brad and Angelina…. Is Posh pregnant? X Factor, Atkins Diet, Feng Shui, split ends, text me, text me, text me,’,” Lance says in a falsetto voice to mimic Donna. “Dear  _ god _ , the never-ending fountain of fat,  _ stupid _ trivia! I deserve a medal!”

 

Rose is practically growling by the time Lance finishes complaining. “Is that what she’s offering you, then? The Empress? You her consort or something?” She spits out through gritted teeth.

 

“It’s better than a night with her,” Lance replies pointing the axe at Donna, who whimpers.

 

“But I love you,” Donna states softly.

 

Lance smiles cruelly at her. “And that’s what made it easy,” he explains. “Gotta think of the big picture. What’s the point of it all if the human race is nothing? That’s what the Empress can give me- the chance to go out there, to see, the size of it. And I think you understand, don’t you, little girl?”

 

“Who is this Flower Girl?” The Empress asks Lance.

 

“She said Martian,” Lance replies and Rose grins.

 

“Oh, I’m way worse than any Martian, but let’s get back to the main point,” Rose says scuffing her shoe across the ground and kicking a pebble to fall down the hole. “What’s down there? You said you were the only one left, so what’s got you so interested in drilling? All that’s there is lava, or whatever it’s called-” Rose snaps her fingers. “Magma!”

 

Lance smirks. “I think she wants us to talk.”

 

“Well, I  _ did _ have you talking,” Rose mumbles.

 

“Well, tough,” The Empress tells her. “All we need is Donna. Kill the chattering little Defender Girl.”

 

Donna puts herself in front of Rose. “Don’t you hurt her!” She tells them as the pilotfish Santa’s take aim.

 

“Take aim!” The Empress commands redundantly.

 

“No! I won’t let you hurt her!” Donna shouts and Rose looks over her own shoulder to judge the distance between the lab doors and where they were.

 

“Uhm,” Rose says biting her lip. The Empress smirks.

 

“Don’t worry, they won’t hit the bride. They’re such very good shots,” she confides in them.

 

“Shush! I’m thinking!” Rose tells the Empress.

 

“Well, think harder,” Donna hisses  from the corner of her mouth scared to move even an inch. Rose tightens her grip on Donna’s arm.

 

“Well, here goes nothing,” Rose mutters.

 

“ **_FIRE_ ** !” The Empress yells and Rose pulls Donna along with her behind the nearest giant pot machine thing. The bullets hit close, but Rose isn’t planning on staying there for too long.

 

Once she hears the bullets not dying down, Rose knows she has to make her move fast, so she yanks on Donna’s arm and pulls them behind another section of pipes. It was a mistake for the Empress to have all her robots up high where they couldn’t chase after them.

 

“What are you doing?” Donna shouts at her as they stop behind the pipes. The spray of bullets is joined by the spray of water from the pipes. Rose hopes it’s the Thames water and not the liquid Huon Particles. The first time anyone’s prayed for Thames water over anything else. Rose can hear the Empress screeching about her lab and the particles before she tugs Donna further away from the room with the giant hole.

 

“Improvising!” Rose shouts back dashing through the labs’ double doors, Donna hot on her heels. They bypass the segways and decide to leg it. It’d be faster.

 

“Improvise better, next time!” Donna pants out as they run and Rose laughs.

  
“ _ Next _ time?” She asks as they run around the corner to be greeted by the sight of the TARDIS. “What’re you doing here, Old Girl?” Rose asks the TARDIS before opening the door with her key and closing it behind Donna.

 

“My  **_KE---Y_ ** !” They hear the Empress shriek and Rose winces.

 

“Blimey, does she have a set of lungs on her,” she pants as she runs around the console pushing and flicking what she’s told to push and flick.  _ No wonder the Doctor uses his feet _ , Rose thinks as they dematerialise. Rose looks at the screen and gets confused.

 

“Huh? Where are you taking us?” She asks the TARDIS.

 

“What?” Who’re you talking to?” Donna asks from where shes sat on the jump seat.

 

“Uh, I’ll explain later,” Rose tells her as she braces for turbulence. “You know what you said about time machines earlier?”

 

“When I wished you had one?” Donna asks with a frown.

 

“Yeah, well, I do. Have one, that is. The TARDIS can travel through time.” Donna looks offended and Rose holds up her hands which was a bad idea because the TARDIS rocks her away from the console and towards the railing.

 

“What?”

 

“We couldn’t have used it before!” Rose explains. “I swear! But now, not it looks like we’re going to.”

 

“And where are we going?” Donna demands.

 

“Uhm, 4.6 billion years into the past?” Rose asks more than tells her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> next chapter will be this last, but don't worry, part two of Rose Stays is already written. Maybe this is why i'm updating so often. I love y'alls responses so far, thank you!


	4. Same Difference

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What's different and what is the same?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> part one of Rose Stays is finished, but part two will prolly appear sometime next week, don't worry

“Four  _ what _ ?”

 

“Well, the Empress wanted something from the centre of the Earth, so I guess we’re going to see what it is,” Rose tells her wringing her hands.

 

“You  _ guess _ ?” Donna repeats and Rose ducks her head sheepishly. That must’ve been Donna’s breaking point because she starts to cry and Rose rushes to give her a hug.

 

“I’m sorry for him saying all that stuff to you,” Rose tells her rubbing circles on her back. “He wasn’t saying anything true, though. I want you to know that you are a strong woman, Donna.” Donna nods her head against Rose’s shoulder. “D’you want to change your clothes? Get out of that dress?”

 

“Wha’?” Donna asks her pulling her head up and leaning back from the embrace.

 

“Well, I’ve got a wardrobe full of clothes. You can borrow an outfit, if you’d like.”

 

“You’re as skinny as your friend!” Donna tells her sounding better. “Would they even fit?”

 

Rose smiles widely at her. “I’ve got all sizes,” she tells Donna. They get up and the TARDS puts the wardrobe room closer to the console room and Rose pats the nearest wall in thanks.

 

“Oh, blimey,” Donna breathes out and Rose knows that she did the right thing.

 

“I know. I wanted to stay in here my first time looking at it,” Rose says with a nod. Donna drifts away to a pile of clothing and Rose aimlessly walks the aisles. She spots a jacket she hadn’t seen before mixed with the early 90’s garb and picks it up to hold up before her. The TARDIS chimes to give her opinion and Rose smiles.

 

She shrugs off her sweat jacket and slides on the blue leather jacket. She takes the credit stick and her new sonic screwdriver from her old jacket and places them in her new jacket pockets.

 

“Ooh, bigger on the inside,” she says in surprise as she places her hands in her pockets. It was an odd feeling, she could vaguely feel the fabric of the inside of the pocket, but she could also feel odd bits of things float on past her hands. She wondered how she’d find anything when her sonic screwdriver placed itself in her hand. Rose startled and laughed as she let go of the sonic only to think about it again and feel it place itself back in her hand.

 

No wonder the Doctor didn’t lose anything when he put something in his pocket. She wondered about the psychic paper and felt a patch of leather tickle her palm. She pulled her hands out and saw the psychic paper in her left hand. This was wicked awesome.

 

“There you are!” Donna shouts and Rose puts the paper back in her pocket before turning around.

 

“All good?” Rose asks as she looks over the woman. She was wearing a sensible pant suit look with a white blouse and low heeled boots.

 

“Yeah,” Donna said with a grateful smile on her face. Rose gives her one back and leads them out back towards the console room.

 

“I like your shoes,” Rose tells her as they walk down the small hallway to the console room.

 

“Well, with all the running we’ve done so far,” Donna says giving her a pointed look. Rose shrugs.

 

“Welcome to my world.”

 

\--

 

“If a Key is lost, then another must be cut!” The Empress says. “At  **_ARMS_ ** !”

 

\--

 

“Do you wanna see?” Rose asks her.

 

Donna shrugs. “Suppose,” she says dejectedly as thoughts of Lance come back to her.

 

“We can even try it your way,” Rose tells her hooking their arms together and walking towards the TARDIS doors. “It’s kind of cool to see the beginning.”

 

“All I want to see is my bed,” Donna sighs.

 

“And a pint or two of ice cream,” Rose nods. “Maybe a film with explosions and no romance,” she adds.

 

“Sounds nice,” Donna says smiling a little as they open the doors. “Where’s the Earth?” she asks as they look around at the rocks and dust.

 

“The Doctor said that there was a bang as everything came together. Maybe we’re early,” Rose suggests as she looks out at the spot where the Earth would be.

 

“You’re enjoying this,” Donna realises looking at the grin on Rose’s face.

 

“Sorry, it’s jus’, I’ve seen the end and now I get to be here for the beginning! It’s exciting stuff!”

 

Donna shakes her head. “It puts the wedding in perspective. Lance was right. We’re tiny,” Donna says.

 

“No, not at all! I’ve never met anyone who wasn’t important, Donna. Just because you focus on your wedding or a celebrity, doesn’t mean you’re tiny. It means you’re living your life. Not all that…  _ rubbish _ Lance was spouting,” Rose tells her making sure to look Donna in the eye so she would know that Rose was telling the truth.

 

“So we came out of all of this?” Donna asks as she looks back out the doors. She’s changing the subject so she doesn’t burst into even more tears. They were trying to stay alive, after all.

 

“Isn’t it fantastic?” Rose asks back allowing Donna the subject change. They see a rock float on past and Donna points at it.

 

“I think that’s the Isle of Wight,” she says jokingly. Rose grins at her before going back to looking for the cause of the bang.

 

“So, basically,” she says as she thinks back to her science classes and what the Doctor rambled on about. “There’s a rock that’s… denser? Than all the others. It pulls at them until they all pull together and form-”

 

“The Earth,” Donna finishes, her voice soft in awe.

 

“But what’s the first rock? ‘Cos looking around, I don’t see any that look dense enough.”

 

“Look!” Donna points to where a star shaped object emerges from the dust and gas.

 

“Is that a ship?” Rose asks. “It must be… oh, survivors!” Rose bounces on the balls of her feet.

 

“What?” Donna asks as she squints at the star thing.

 

“There are always survivors,” Rose imparts. “It must be Racnoss refugees!”

 

“You mean there’s more?” Donna asks worriedly.

 

“The Secret Heart called to waken…,” Rose quotes. “Then, if they feed on these Huon Particles, then that’s what they need you for. To wake up! Ha! I solved it!”

 

“You mean, they’re going to eat me?” Donna asks gasping for air as she stumbles away from the doors and to the jump seat.

 

“Oh, Donna! I’m so sorry! I didn’t- I was- I’m being rude,” Rose says. “More than rude, really.”

 

\--

 

“Now, I have measured the bride’s catalysis, I can force-feed it. Drink the particles, become the Key!” The Empress tells Lance as her roboforms hold him in place so he doesn’t run away.

 

\--

 

The TARDIS starts to shake and they both struggle to stay on their feet.

 

“What is that?” Donna asks as she holds on to the jump seat for dear life.

 

“Trouble,” Rose answers as she huffs hair out of her face, holding onto the edge of the console grateful she closed the doors before this happened.

 

\--

 

“My wonderful Key!” The Empress shouts in joy as Lance, still held by her roboforms, stats to glow golden. “Now, my servants, bind him!” She commands.

 

\--

 

“What’s it doing?” Donna shouts at her.

 

“I’m guessing the Empress is calling us back to her instead of being called to the TARDIS,” Rose explains as she runs around the console trying to keep up with the TARDIS’ demands while staying on her feet.

 

“Well, can’t you hang up?” Donna asks. “Hasn’t it got a handbrake? Can’t you reverse, or, warp, or beam, or something?”

 

“Was I this bad?” Rose asks the TARDIS, who chimes in laughter. “Oh, great!” Rose mutters to herself before turning to Donna. “I dunno! It isn't my ship-” The TARDIS dings in resentment and Rose rolls her eyes. “Well, it  _ wasn’t  _ my ship! It sor’ of… fell in my lap. I told you I’m new at this!” Rose explains. “Better?” She shouts at the ceiling and the TARDIS refuses to respond.

 

\--

 

“The bride shall join her groom. What a wedding there shall be,” The Empress cackles.

 

\--

 

They land with a mighty jolt and Rose can feel her palms sting as they scrape against the grating. She stands and looks for Donna, who is rubbing a spot on her head.

 

“You okay?” She asks the woman.

 

“You need to learn to drive better,” Donna tells her as they stumble to the doors. “An’ you’re going to have to tell me who you were talking to.”

 

“Later!” Rose tells her as they run back down the corridors.

 

\--

 

“She is close!” The Empress shouts. “The holy bride in white! Find her!”

 

\--

 

“What do we do now?” Donna asks out of breath.

 

“I dunno, I’m making this all up as I go,” Rose tells her before groaning. “Oh, great! I’m not becoming me mum, I’m becoming the Doctor!”

 

“But I still don’t understand,” Donna says ignoring her outburst. “Why me?” Rose shrugs as she struggles to open the door they’ve come across.

 

“Dunno. Could’ve been anyone, I guess. It just depended on who Lance picked, the prick. I mean, not to sound rude, but-” Rose stops as she turns to find Donna gone. She curses in the Twelti dialect, known for it’s spectacular curse words according to Jack.

 

\--

 

“I  _ hate _ you,” Donna hisses at Lance, who is also hanging from the ceiling by webbing.

 

“Yeah, I think we’ve gone a bit beyond that now, sweetheart,” Lance replies equally bitter.

 

“My golden couple,” The Empress coos. “Together at last, your awful wedded life.”

 

“I don’t know if it’s escaped your notice,” Donna yells out. “But I’m out of dress!”

 

“Tell me,” The Empress continues as if Donna hadn’t talked. “Do you want to be released?”

 

“ **_YES_ ** !” Both her and Lance shout together.

 

“You’re supposed to say ‘I do’!” The Empress tells them.

 

“No chance,” Lance refuses.

 

“Say it!”

 

They both look at each other and nod, figuring cooperating would be better.

 

“I do,” Lance spits out.

 

“I do,” Donna says between clenched teeth.

 

“I  _ don’t _ !” The Empress cackles and Donna rolls her eyes. Rose was right, she  _ is _ a Drama Queen.

 

“Activate the Particles! Purge every last one!” The Empress commands as Donna and Lance start to glow. “And release! The Secret Heart unlocks and they will waken from their sleep of ages!”

 

“Who will? What’s down there?” Donna shouts trying to get the spider to talk, trying to buy more time. For Rose and for herself.

 

“How thick are you?” Lance shouts at her. Donna glares at him.  _ You’re the thick one _ , she thinks.

 

“My children,” The Empress coos. “The long lost Racnoss, now reborn to feast on flesh. The Webstar shall come to me. My babies will be hungry. They need sustenance,” the Empress says as she pulls at the webbing holding Lance in place.

 

“No!” He protests.

 

“Perish the web,” the Empress says with a wicked grin on her face.

 

“Use her, not me, use  _ her _ !” Lance shouts nodding his head towards Donna. She could really pick ‘em.

 

“Oh, my funny little Lance, but you were quite impolite to your lady-friend. The Empress does not approve,” the Empress tells him before yanking on the webbing, making Lance fall straight down into the pit. Donna shouts in surprise, turning her head and closing her eyes tightly.

 

“I think I’m going to be sick,” she whispers.

 

“Harvest the humans! Reduce them to meat! My children are climbing towards me and none shall stop them! So you might as well unmask, my clever little Defender Girl,” The Empress tells her.

 

Rose, who had been sneaking up behind the Empress dressed as one of her pilotfish Santa’s, sags before yanking off the robe and mask.

 

“There goes the element of surprise,” Rose mutters as she takes out a slingshot. She aims carefully before shooting a marble at where Donna was being held captive. “Donna, I’ve got you!” she yells to her.

 

“Is this a bomb?” Donna shouts back. “I’m going to die!”

 

“You’re going to fall,” Rose corrects her.

 

Donna’s eyes bulge out of her head. “Fall!?”

 

“Swing, actually,” Rose amends. “I’ll catch you! I was in gymnastics, y’know!” Rose held her arms outstretched before her as the acid marble starts cutting through the webbing. Donna shrieks as she can feel herself beginning to fall. She wraps her wrist around a thick pact of webbing as she arms clear free, and then, suddenly, she’s swinging like George of the bloody Jungle towards Rose.

 

They crash together quite comically, Rose cushioning Donna’s fall as they collapse to the ground. Donna pulls Rose up before smacking her on the shoulder.

 

“You could’ve  _ killed _ me!” Donna shouts and Rose clutches her shoulder.

 

“Ow! Donna, that’s my bad shoulder!” Rose says remembering getting shot by a pilotfish Santa earlier today. She had been running on adrenaline and had completely forgotten about it until now.

 

“The Defender Girl amuses me,” the Empress laughs out, bringing attention to herself. Rose pushes Donna behind her and stands before the Empress, who looked bigger from this side of the hole.

 

“Empress of the Racnoss, please let me help you! There are humans here, Torchwood, they will bring you and your children nothing but death!” The Empress just laughs at her again.

 

“Little girls are funny, too, it seems.”

 

“I’m telling the truth! You may kill a hundred thousand humans, but in the end, your children will be dead and it will be all your fault!” Rose throws at her which makes the Empress hiss as her torso flinches back. “Torchwood will kill them until they have a handful left an’ you know what they are gonna do to the rest? They are gonna hurt them, torture them, take ‘em apart to see how they work, then they’re gonna  _ kill _ them!” Rose adds. 

 

“I’m afraid I have to decline,” the Empress spits at her and Rose heaves a sigh.

 

“Afraid is what you should be, Empress,” Rose says. “Because if I cannot urge you to leave, then I’ll have to do something I don’t want to do.” And with that, she pulls out the ornament bombs and the remote control for them. She holds them out in her hands, not going any further than that, but the Empress flinches back as she recognizes them.

 

“You’re threats are idle, my children will feast on Martian flesh!” The Empress hisses at her.

 

“Yeah, well, I’m not from Mars,” Rose says for what feels like the hundredth time today.

 

“Then where?” the Empress demands.

 

“It’s in the job title,” Rose tells her copying Lance. “Defender of the  _ Earth _ .”

 

“You are human!?” the Empress laughs no longer feeling afraid of the little human girl.

 

“I am, and I  _ will _ use these if necessary, so  _ please _ , let me find you a home. Let me find you a planet to live on. I can give you a second chance to start over!  _ Please _ ,” Rose begs clutching the ornaments tightly in her hands.

 

The Empress stops laughing as she sees the pain in Rose’s eyes, knowing what needs to be done. She snarls instead. “You are no longer amusing Defender Girl,” she tells Rose.

 

“If it will save you and your children’s’ life, I really don’t have to be,” Rose responds.

 

“I… I will take your offer,” The Empress says looking down in shame of her defeat.

 

“Fantastic!” Rose puts the ornament bombs back in her pockets and pulls out a pen and paper. “Now, tell me what you need to survive and we’ll go from there.”

 

\--

 

On a faraway planet in a faraway galaxy that’s been newly created and thus, uninhabited, Rose sets down twin Christmas Star Ships. She follows the directions of the TARDIS fastidiously, not wanting anything to go wrong.

 

As soon as they land, Rose opens the doors to see hundreds of tiny little Racnoss babies scattering about their new home. The Empress hisses at her from where she is helping her children out of their ship.

 

“I  _ will _ have my revenge, Defender Girl. Know this.”

 

“You and your children will be nothing but dust before your ships ever reach the outer-edge of the Milky Way,” Rose tells her simply.

 

“What sort of threat is this?”

 

“It’s not a threat, just a fact. This galaxy is a billion trillion light years away from the Earth,” Rose tells her, making up the number because she didn’t know the exact distance away this planet actually was from the Earth. She couldn’t even point out the correct direction the Earth was in. “You should just live here happily with your children. Watch them grow up to produce children of their own. Your family should be your priority, not revenge on a human girl who’s going to be dead soon enough anyways,” Rose says urging the Empress to understand.

 

She doesn’t wait for a response, though, heading back in the TARDIS and following the instructions to take Donna home.

 

\--

 

“You would’ve killed them,” Donna says quietly startling Rose from her thoughts. She swallows down the lump in her throat as Donna repeats herself. “You would’ve killed them.”

 

“Yeah,” Rose says to her, lying. “If she hadn’t taken my offer.” They are outside Donna’s house, Rose holding Donna’s wedding dress folded over her arm and Donna turned to look at her family hugging in the window. “Are you okay?” Rose asks a minute later.

 

“Apart from the fact that I’ve missed my wedding, quit my job, and became a widow on the same day… sort of,” Donna tells her with a small nod.

 

“I’m sorry… about Lance,” Rose tells her meaning more than that he had died.

 

“He deserved it,” Donna sniffed before shaking her head. “No, he didn’t.” There’s a pause as she looks at her family setting the table. “Better get inside, then. They’ll be worried.”

 

“Best Christmas present they could have,” Rose says with a sad smile.

 

“Merry Christmas,” Donna tells her.

 

“Merry Christmas,” Rose repeats. “So, what are you going to do now? Now that you’ve missed your wedding, you’re no longer employed, and you’re a sort of widow?”

 

“Not getting married, that’s for starters,” Donna says with a laugh in her voice. “And I’m not going to temp anymore. I dunno, travel. See a bit more of planet Earth. Walk in the dust. Jus’... Go out there and do something.”

 

“Well, you could…,” Rose trails off biting her lip.

 

“What?”

 

“Come travel with me?” Rose asks holding her breath.

 

“No,” Donna tells her with no hesitation. Rose feels alone once more.

 

“Right-”

 

“I can’t,” Donna interrupts.

 

“No, I get it. It’s fine,” Rose tells her thinking about Donna’s family.

 

“No, but I really can’t. I mean, everything we did today…,” she says with a little laugh. “Do you live your life like that?”

 

“Not always,” Rose denies unconvincingly.

 

“I think you do. And I couldn’t.”

 

“But you’ve seen it out there! The beauty of it all!”

 

“But I’ve also seen the terror,” Donna adds. “I mean, that spider thing would’ve killed us all, and you scared it away with talks of monsters in the forms of humans! You yourself said you would’ve killed it if it didn’t comply! The place would’ve probably flooded and you would’ve just stood there, like… Like a stranger. I saw the dark look in your eyes when you pleaded with her, I mean, you scared me to death.”

 

Rose feels herself crying. It seems that’s all she does nowadays. Cry. “I understand,” she croaks out and Donna gives her a side hug.

 

“Tell you what, though. Christmas dinner,” Donna says pointing at her house. Rose doesn’t budge. “Oh, come on!”

 

“I don’t think I can,” Rose tells her as she starts to pull away.

 

“You might as well, because mum always cooks enough for twenty.”

 

“It sounds lovely, but I- I can’t. I’m- I jus’ lost my own family and I’m sorry, but I can’t.”

 

“Will I ever see you again?” Donna asks instead of what she really wanted to ask. She knew that Rose was alone, but she didn’t know how the girl had come to be that way. Donna had wanted to give her something happy to hold onto, but she could see how coming to Christmas dinner would kill her.

 

“If I’m lucky,” Rose says smiling sadly at her.

 

“Just promise me you’ll find someone,” Donna asks of her.

 

“Someone?”

 

“You need someone. You need someone to help you, to hold your hand,” Donna explains.

 

“Yeah, I… Yeah,” Rose agrees with a small nod. “Thanks for everything you did today. You were really brave.”

 

Donna scoffs. “I was terrified.”

 

“So was I,” Rose confesses. “But you were fantastic in there. I would’ve been helpless without you.”

 

“Thanks,” Donna says with a small grin on her face. “Oh,” she says spotting the wedding dress tucked in Rose’s arms. “Your clothes.”

 

“Keep ‘em. They wouldn’t’ve been worn anyways.” Rose holds out her dress and Donna takes it from her, but she doesn’t want to say goodbye just yet. She knows she doesn’t want to travel with her, but she doesn’t want to say goodbye either.

 

“I kind of want to burn it,” Donna says looking down at it.

 

“Nah, sell it online for a higher price. It’s been through quite the adventure after all. And that’s priceless.”

 

“There’s an idea.” They stand around for a few awkward seconds as they struggle to keep talking. Eventually, Rose knows that if she doesn’t leave now, she’ll probably take Donna up on her Christmas dinner offer.

 

“Uhm… Bye, Donna,” Rose says as she makes an abortive step towards the TARDIS.

 

“Goodbye, Rose,” Donna replies staying put to watch the girl get into her weird box. It shoots up into the sky before disappearing. “This is going to be so shaming,” Donna mutters to herself, saying the words once more as she turns back to her house.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel like Rose has a different understanding of the Doctor. Like, she's seen all the good he's done and had never really seen him kill something outright other than the Daleks, which she gets that hate eventually. THe thing is, she has no clue what the Racnoss are to the Time Lords, so she offers a chance, like she believes the Doctor would do. Let me know if you think differently, tho. I love feedback!

**Author's Note:**

> i think this is the only fic i've ever obsessively combed over for mistakes or grammar errors, so if i've made a mistake, just know it was prolly because i have read this at least 20 times looking for said mistakes.
> 
> Hope you liked it


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